


A New Sunrise

by ProfessorESP



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Deaf Character, Multi, Nonverbal Communication, Original Character-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 05:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3883237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorESP/pseuds/ProfessorESP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Des was born and raised in the End; it's all she's ever known. Suddenly she's pulled from her home into a strange place she's only heard of in her parent's stories: the overworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my and meyecy's second gen au, which you can read a little bit about [here](http://professorsparkletrash.tumblr.com/post/110685014331/so-as-of-right-now-heres-the-run-down-of-my)

Des was sitting on one of the obsidian pillars staring out into the void when she felt something pull at her. Or- not pull, per say, but lift, coaxing her into the air and out of this plane of being. It felt like a trick her father had tried to show her, a way of summoning objects to you, but in reverse. Des wavered briefly on whether or not to follow it, but it was already too late. The force tugged, pulling her through a plane of light a million times brighter than the stars that illuminated the end, and suddenly she was somewhere else.

Des unfurled her wings instinctively, flapping frantically to keep herself in the air. She was sense-blind, overwhelmed by the brightness and the roar and the nothingness of that in-between realm. The air was stale and hot and she could barely breathe. Des blinked away the spots in her vision and saw she was in a small room made of grey stone, stuffed with more humans than she had ever seen before in her life. She was hovering above a ring of pedestals with empty slots suspended over a pool of molten rock. Des placed one foot on the ring and folded her wings, balancing precariously before she sat with her legs underneath her. The human at the head of the stairs leading to the pedestals stared at her. The others scattered lower on the steps and on the floor glanced at her and murmured to each other. Two of them were holding a conversation entirely through gestures.

“Was that supposed to happen?” one of the humans asked, the one dressed in long teal robes.

“Not as far as I know, no,” the one at the top of the stairs said. “It’s supposed to open a portal made of stars into the void, not explode all the ender eyes and summon a cute girl with dragon wings.”

Des frowned. “Cute?”

The human on the stairs looked back at her. “Sorry. I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Belle, she/her pronouns.” She turned and began to point to her companions. “Aster, he/him pronouns,” the short human with long orange hair waved, “Alex, he/him as well,” the one in teal looked over from where he was watching his companion’s conversation and smiled. “Blair and Arian,” she pointed at the two holding a conversation with their hands, first the one in a mess of braids and then the one dressed in wrapped, layered clothing, “she/her or they/them and they/them respectively.” Belle pointed to the last four of the group in quick succession: the short one with curled dark hair (“Marbleous, she/her”), the large one dressed in a long white coat (“Lynn, she/her”), the one wearing a skirt and dangerous looking heels (“Wilma, she/her”), and the one with flushed red skin covered in freckles (“Will, he/him.”).

“You can call me Junior if you want,” Will said.

They all looked at Des expectedly. “Um, I’m Des.”

“What pronouns do you use?” Belle prompted.

“Um. She/her, I guess?”

“So did you get summoned here from the end?” Lynn asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Des replied.

Alex frowned. “You live there?”

“Yeah. I’ve lived there my whole life.”

“As much as I’d love to stay and interrogate her,” Wilma interrupted, “it’s almost sunrise and we’re in the middle of a half-lit fortress. You can ask questions on our way out of here.”

The others in the group nodded in agreement and began to shuffle out of the room. Arian came over and helped Des down from the pedestal. When she thanked him, he blushed, glanced at her wings, back at the ground, and made a motion with his hands.

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“They said you’re welcome,” Alex said. “Have you never met someone who speaks sign language before?” Des shook her head. “I can help teach you sometime if you want.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Des smiled at him and Arian glared before pushing past to the head of the group. Belle wrapped an arm around Des’ shoulders and pulled her along after them.

“So, you were born in the end, huh?”

“Yes,” Des said. She kept glancing around at the dark hallways marked at the entrance by torches, but the rest of the group walked past them along the lit hallway. “My parents were adventurers who got trapped there after they defeated the previous queen and a portal didn’t appear.”

“The previous queen,” Marbleous repeated. “You mean the enderdragon?”

“I suppose. My mom calls it that sometimes, but my father only ever calls her the Queen.”

“You said the previous queen,” Wilma said. “Who’s the current one?”

“My mother. After they realized they were there for good, my parents built a keep out of the dragon’s life pillars and started ruling over the endermen. My father has a connection to them through his magic, so they listen to him and bring things we need from the overworld.”

“So that’s why the endermen keep stealing stuff!” Aster exclaimed.

“You mean we’re in the overworld?”

“Yeah,” Will said. “Where else would we be?”

“I don’t know.” Truth be told, Des had never really given the other worlds much thought. She knew about them from her parent’s half hearted lessons, but with the end cut off from the rest of the realms the way it was she had assumed she’d never get a chance to see them.

“Wait a minute,” Alex said. “The ender dragon- it’s supposed to drop an egg after you defeat it. What happened to that?”

“That’s what I hatched from.”

The group stopped in place and all turned to stare at Des. “Well,” Lynn said, “That does explain the dragon wings.”

Will glanced at his watch and frowned. “We need to hurry it up, it’s getting really close to dawn.” He started shooing the rest of the group further down the hallway. At the end there was a long spiral staircase, and at the top of that was a ladder up. Des tucked her wings in and climbed up, and at the top she couldn’t believe her eyes. The world was- was green, and covered with grass and tall vegetation everywhere.

“Look at all the dirt!” She cried. A few people started smiling and laughing.

“I’d love to stay and chat,” Wilma said, “but we need to get home.” She kissed Lynn and Marbleous’ cheeks before pulling a jet pack out of her inventory and flying up and out of sight. Will winked at Des before putting on his own jet pack and flying off after her.

“Their dad is really strict about curfew, huh?” Aster asked. Lynn giggled and Marbleous elbowed her in the stomach.

“So,” Marbleous said, “Where’s Des going to be crashing? Since I assume we’re not going to be able to send her back to the end by tonight.”

“Are you offering?” Belle asked.

“God, no. Have you met my dads?” Everyone murmured their agreement. Des decided that was a question best saved for later.

Arian signed something to Alex. “Ari’s offering to let you stay at their place,” he translated. Blair tensed and started signing rapidly at Arian, who answered at almost the same speed. “Or, uh, maybe not.” Blair jabbed a finger in Arian’s face and they scowled, tucking their hands under their arms. “Yeah, nevermind. I might be able to convince my dads, we have some extra room. Des, do you know any magic?”

“Yeah, a lot. Why?”

“...then that might not be the best idea.”

Aster raised a hand. “We have an extra room at our place. It’s usually for Lynn when she stays over, but Des can use it if that’s alright.”

“That sounds fine,” Lynn said. “And Uncle Xeph is always up for mothering another castaway.”

“Then it’s settled,” Belle said. “And with that, I shall leave you, since my house is on like, the opposite side of the world.”

“Same,” Alex said, yawning. “And my folks aren’t gonna be sympathetic about being late.”

They said their goodbyes, Belle flying off in her jet pack and Alex riding an air scooter. Marbleous and Lynn were apparently heading in the same direction and offered to keep Aster and Des company on foot, since Aster had run out of mana and couldn’t fly.

“So the endermen steal dirt for gardens?” Aster asked. He seemed fascinated with Des’ life in the end, and Des was more than happy to talk to him. It was nice how something so familiar and commonplace to her was an adventure for Aster.

“Oh, yes. My father has done a little bit of botania work; at least, as much as he  can without any sunlight to use to generate mana. And my mother has the most extensive gardens in the keep for food and witchery plants.”

“So do you only eat vegetarian?”

“Yeah. The endermen try their best, but their method of traveling between worlds doesn’t work well on things with a strong life force like animals.”

“So would you consider plants-”

“Creeper!” Marbleous shouted, and they scattered. Aster pulled his sword from his belt, dashing backwards, and Lynn and Marbleous shot up into the air with their jet packs, pulling out weapons of their own. Des glanced to her side, confused. The only thing there was a small, green stalk of an animal, barely more than a meter high. “Des, watch out, it’s hostile!”

The thing began to hiss and swell threateningly, the air smelling like smoke and gunpowder. Des flexed her hand, wishing for the familiar weight of her knives, and one of them settled into her grip. Without taking time to question it, she threw the knife at the creature, hitting it dead in the heart and sending it toppling to the ground. It dissolved into powder, leaving her knife and a small green stone the size of an artichoke.

“Sweet,” Lynn said, “Creeper heart.” She picked it up and the stone vanished into her inventory.

“That was incredible, Des!” Aster shouted. His eyes were shining, and Des felt herself blush. “Where did you learn to do that, it was amazing!”

“It’s just something my dad taught me.” Lynn ducked behind Aster’s back and made little kissing noises as Marbleous rolled her eyes. Des’ face flushed a little hotter. “It’s not really a big deal.”

“Alright, lovebirds, we’re going to leave you here,” Marbleous said. Aster squawked in surprise, his face flushing orange.

“Later, cuz,” Lynn said, turning on her jet pack and launching herself into the sky. Marbleous followed soon after, saluting them both before flying to the east.

Aster watched them go long enough for both their blushes to fade. “It’s uh, not long now,” he said. “The house is right around the next hill.”

Des had never imagined anything as beautiful as Aster’s home. It was nestled into a hill tall enough to be a mountain, the crest serving as a roof, with a small river tumbling over it in a waterfall that ran into a small ravine that passed in front of the door. The crest of the hill was covered in flowers of all shapes and sizes and white pools of crystal blue mana. Aster led Des over the bridge to the porch gestured her inside.

“Hello!” he called. “I’m home!” Aster wandered off into the house, presumably to look for his parents. Des stood in the entrance awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Eventually she settled on standing by the window and watching the water cascade down into the ravine below. She heard a second voice join Aster’s, and then a third, and shuffled to peek around the corner to see.

Aster stood with his parents in an open living room, the tall ceiling spiraling up into a staircase topped by a giant skylight. One of his parents was slightly shorter than Aster with a giant beard the same shade of orange as Aster’s hair, and the other was tall and thin, dark skinned with a eyes that glowed slightly in the dim light. They all had mugs of tea in their hands, even Aster.

“So, how did fortress hunting go?” the short one asked.

“Good. We managed to find one without breaking too many ender eyes, so we had enough to open the portal. But it didn’t quite work right.”

“I’m not surprised,” the tall one said, taking a drink of tea. “No one’s been able to open a connection to the end for almost twenty years.”

“Er, actually. We did manage to open it, it’s just that instead of taking us there it brought something else here.”

“Something-” the tall one blinked, eyes narrowing. “Don’t tell me you managed to get a dragon egg.”

“Not quite. Des? Can you come in here?”

Des walked around the corner shyly, tucking her wings as small as they could go against her back.

“You managed to pick up a girl in an ender fortress? Nice work.” The short one punched Aster lightly in the arm, and he blushed orange. “I’m just teasing. It’s nice to meet you, lass, I’m Honeydew of Khaz Modan, Aster’s father. This is my husband Xephos, we both use he/him pronouns.”

“Um, I’m Despoina Poppyrose Enderborn. But you can call me Des.”

Xephos snorted. “Sounds like something Rythian would have named his kid,” he said, taking another sip of his tea.

“Oh, that’s my dad! Do you know him?”

Two things happened at once. Xephos doubled over, coughing loudly and spilling tea all over the floor. Honeydew went to pat on his back before Xeph waved him off, instead handing him his mug of tea. Behind them, Des heard the sound of ceramics breaking. She turned and saw someone who looked a lot like Lynn standing and staring at her with wide eyes, hand open and a broken ceramic mug spilling tea all over the floor.

Aster rubbed a hand across his face. “Des, this is my uncle Lalna. He/him pronouns. Uncle Lalna, this is Des. She/her pronouns.”

“Rythian is alive?” Lalna said.

Honeydew pushed Xephos, who was still coughing, onto the couch. “Let’s just all settle down and talk about this like adults. I’ll go make another pot of tea.”

* * *

An hour and one life story later, Honeydew showed Des up to the spare room. It was mostly bare, with a dresser full of clothes that probably wouldn’t fit and a bed that Des couldn’t bring herself to lay down in. It felt like the day had just begun. She snuck out, taking the staircase up to the top of the hill, and breathed out in surprise. She had expected a starry night, like the sky had been at home and during their walk here, but instead the sky was full of colors, turning blue and yellow and deep, deep, red, a palette that Des had never imagined before. She found a spot empty of botania flowers and knelt in the grass to watch as the white sun inched slowly up over the horizon.

The trap door creaked again and Aster came to settle himself next to her. “I thought I might find you up here,” he said, and Des shrugged her wings, still watching the sky.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see the sun,” she said. “There’s only void in the end, just blackness studded with stars. I never imagined that it’d change the color of the sky.”

The two of them sat in silence watching the sun rise, only broken by the sound of Des’ wingtips tracing the grass. Finally, when the sun had fully risen and the sky was a uniform pale blue, Des spoke again.

“Is your uncle mad at me?”  
Aster sighed, pulling his legs up to wrap his arms around his knees. “I don’t think so. He and your dad- no one really talks about it, but from what I can tell, they had a really long history.”

“He never talked about it,” Des said. “He talked a little bit about the overworld, and about some of the people, but never someone like your uncle.”

“Neither did he. I guess- I guess it was too painful, thinking about someone you- someone who was important to you, and thinking they were dead.”

“I guess,” Des said. They sat in silence a few minutes more, before Aster went back into the house. Des sat and felt the wind and watched the tree branches sway like a crowd.


End file.
